Emergency Room Romance

Adrenaline Crash

He hadn’t changed. He still looked as ruthless and as aggressive as he did the night I left him. I tried to remind myself where we were. The hospital, in the reception. He wouldn’t try anything here.

“Maybe we should go somewhere more private Blair.” He said, his words cold as he spoke them.

I found myself nodding. This man still had power over me two years after I’d ran away from him. I felt meek and pathetic. I began to guide him towards my office, suddenly realising what I was doing. I was letting him get me somewhere alone, where he could do anything and there would be no witnesses!

Subtly, and very slowly I moved my hand to my pager and paged Chase. Sure, it’d take him some time to realise I was in the office, but at least I knew he would be looking for me now.

My hand was clammy as I pushed the door to my office open, the air conditioning hitting my face straight away. Alarm bells were ringing in my mind as I moved behind my desk sitting down. Charlie shut the door and at the sound of the soft click, I felt myself wincing, realising exactly what I’d done.

“You changed your number when you left. I had to backtrack though everyone we knew to find out where you’d ran off too. You did a pretty good job at disappearing.”

I looked down at my desk and swallowed hard.

“You took my little girl away.” That was it.

“She is not your little girl Charlie. She deserves so much better than you. You’re no excuse for a father and if you thought, for one second, that I would stay there and let you lay a finger on her, then you have no idea who I am,”

He slammed his hand down on the desk and I jumped. “Who the hell do you think you are, talking to me like that?” I saw the rage in his eyes. “You listen to me Blair. You are going to get Emily and we are going home, back to Chicago and we’re going to go back to how things used to be.”

“No. We’re not.”

“Excuse me Blair? Are you arguing back to me?” Charlie moved around the desk towards me.

“N-no.”

“Good. Because you know what happens when you argue back with me.” His hand grabbed my arm and hauled me up from the seat. “Now listen to me you little bitch, you’re coming back to Chicago, you’re not going to be a doctor and you’re going to do exactly what I say, understand?” His grip was tight and I winced from the pain. I tried to pull my arm free, but he held it tighter, pinching the skin with his fingertips. I gritted my teeth and his grip got tighter. “Understand?!”

I managed a nod and he let go of my arm, throwing me across the room. I staggered but regained by balance, rubbing my sore arm. I looked down and noticed the crescent shapes of his nails and the heavy purple bruising already appearing on my skin.

The door to the office opened and I was relieved when I saw the blonde doctor I had paged. “You needed me Blair?” He asked, his eyes fleetingly glancing at Charlie.

“Um, yeah, I do.” I didn’t know what else to say, but I felt Charlie’s eyes heavy on me.

Chase’s eyes, however, were fixed on the arm I was still holding. His eyes narrowed for a second and then flicked up to my face. I knew he realised what was going on. Charlie looked at me, his anger worse and more evident in his clouded eyes now. I didn’t know what to do, so I stood there, silently panicking, my fear recognisable around the room to both men standing there.

“I think it’s time you left sir.” Chase was the one to break the silence.

“And I think it’s time that you kept your nose out of my business.” Charlie turned to Chase and forgot about me.

“I will call security if I have to.” Chase didn’t waver, He reached out grabbed the phone and hit the button.

Charlie’s fist swung and I dived at him, hoping to throw him off balance.

I heard Chase requesting security as I pushed Charlie away from the doctor, watching as he stumbled across the office. He turned and lunged at me but Chase intervened quickly, grabbing his arms and holding him back. I watched in terror as he struggled to get free, cursing and screaming things at me.

Security burst through the door and grabbed Charlie, allowing Chase to check up on me.

“That was him, wasn’t it?” He asked gently once security had removed Charlie from the hospital.

I nodded. “And now he knows where I am.” I said dejectedly.

“Don’t worry Blair. No one here will let him get to you.” Chase said sincerely, examining my arm.

“Thanks. It’s just a bruise, it’ll be fine.” I pulled my sleeve down and hid the mark easily.

“Blair. I mean it. I won’t let him get near you or Emily. No matter what it takes to stop him.” I looked at Chase and could tell he was being sincere. “Come here.” He pulled me into a hug, one that made me feel safe and wanted. I wrapped my arms tight around him, breathing in his aroma and closing my eyes. It had been such a long time since I’d felt this safe with another human being. It was pleasant. Chase’s chin rested atop my head and I felt him let out a soft sigh as he held me. I took a deep breath and pulled away before I appeared too clingy to my colleague.

“Are you okay?”

“Please don’t start asking me that again.” I begged, giving him a small smile.

“Okay, just answer it once for me.”

“I’m okay, yeah, surprisingly. I just want to get on with my life and keep Emily safe now.”

“Well, Charlie will end up getting arrested for this.”

“What? Why? Chase did you say something?” I began to panic. I didn’t want people knowing my life story.

“No! I wouldn’t do that, but he did assault a doctor.” He indicated the bruise on my arm. “Security saw it Blair, it’s going to happen. Whether it goes further will be up to you when the police get involved.”

I sighed and leaned back against the desk, looking at the carpet.

“Hey, come on. You look like you could do with something to eat. How about we get dinner, my treat?” I looked up at Chase with a confused expression. “You’ve had a busy day, you deserve it.” He said with a smile.

Was Chase asking me on a date? Or did he mean it just as friends? Whatever his intentions were I found myself nodding and quietly thanking him.

“I’ll meet you at the front then, in say, twenty minutes?” He was still smiling.

“Sure, sounds good to me.” I said, returning the smile softly before making my way to the locker room to change out of my scrubs.

I hadn’t been out for dinner in a long, long time and the butterflies had appeared in my stomach. I needed to calm myself down. Today had been a major adrenaline rush and I was convinced I was running on a high right now. I had visions of crashing any second now and I didn’t want that, not when I was going out with Chase tonight…